Subtitles of the Movie

Voiding checks is a very simple task in QuickBooks. For example, if I'm writing a check I can simply go to Edit and Void a Check and I'm done. However, where it gets a bit more complicated is if our date in a prior close period, particularly in a previous year. Let's talk about how we'll void those checks. I'm going to close out of the Writing a Check Screen and let's go into our actual Bank Reconciliation. My reconciliation, of course, is under Banking on my Home Page. I've put in one dollar just to be able to get into the screen and you'll notice that I have an insurance check that is not in the current year. I'd like to zero this out. I can't void because it would affect a closed period. What we can do, however, is write a journal entry. To write a journal entry, all I need to do is know the amount of the check and the original account that it hit. In this case, I'll open my General Journal Entry Screen. You'll notice that in the Entry Number that I've preset it with Reversal. That's to let everyone know that I'm reversing out a check. You'll notice that it's an adjusting entry. I'm keeping our date current because I do not want to affect any past books. I will now simple choose the original account that I had expensed the item to, in this case in Insurance and I'm going to credit back the amount. In my Memo Screen, I'm going to clearly note that it is a reversal of check number, and in this case it was check 433. On my second line I will now choose our Checking Account. It is important that we choose the same checking account that the originating entry is in. In my checking account, once again, I will hit a Debit, put the money back into checking and you'll note that again, my memo is Reversal of Check 433. I am now going to Save and Close and when I go back to the Reconciliation Screen, you'll notice that I now have offsetting entries. I have my original check that is offset by the General Journal Entry that we just placed. That's taken care of the situation of an old check. Now, I know some of us are not comfortable using journal entries. I'd like to show you a second technique that can be used. Please note, however, that this is not going to give us quite as good detail in this particular screen. However, for those of us that would prefer to stay away from these journal entries, this works just fine. In order to reverse this out this time, I'm going to actually create a deposit. I'm going to open our Deposit Screen and you'll notice it at first takes me to the Payment Screen. I'm not interested in any of this information, so I'll simply go to OK. This takes me to my Main Background Deposit Screen. Once again, I'm going to insure I'm in the correct checking account. I will keep my date current and I'll switch my memo to again read Reversal. I'm going to use the same vendor in the Received From Column and in this case, it's Sergeant. So I'll go down our Vendor List, find Sergeant Insurance and select them. The account will again be the same originating expense account, which in this case is Insurance. In my Memo Field, I will once again note that it is a Reversal and I'll say Reversal of Check Number 433. Now, although I could put the check number under the column, you will note that this is not going to appear in our Reconciliation Screen, so I'll keep it in my memo. The amount, once again, the exact amount of the check, which was 712 dollars and I'm finished. I'll simply Save and Close. You will notice that the same type of entry, as with our General Journal appeared. Once again, it offsets. The difficulty here though is you notice that it does not have a reversal here. My recommendation is when you create this offset, immediately go ahead and place checkmarks by both of them. A few weeks later, when you come back to the Reconciliation, it'll be easy to see that these two entries offset each other. Whichever method that you choose, they both accomplish the same thing, which is voiding a check in a current or prior period.